In this installment, we look at how America's 100 largest companies performed over the past 15 months on what PR News readers do best: branding and communications. It
should come as no surprise that two of the world's greatest brands, Microsoft and Disney, have earned the "coveted corner" in the upper-left of this week's Reputation Gauge. Both
companies generate a high volume of positive, high-impact news in areas related to advertising, marketing and public relations. Not coincidentally, both companies' brands are
ubiquitous across all areas of their respective businesses. So Disney, for example, enjoys the benefit of positive corporate news whether the story is about a theme park, a movie
or financial performance because the "Disney" brand is apparent in the great majority of the company's corporate and product/service communication. Microsoft repeats in the upper
left quadrant, having earned the distinction of one of America's best corporate citizens last week.
The upper right corner is to be avoided at all costs, and unfortunately during the past 15 months, Pfizer, Sears, Altria and Halliburton find themselves here. Pfizer earned
their place for negative news about drug recalls; Altria for tobacco-related news, Halliburton for war-related contract news and Sears for brand deterioration news prior to the
merger with K-mart.
International Paper, Duke Energy and United Technology have reputation-building opportunities. They are in the "opportunity box" found in the lower left: Their branding and
communication news is positive, just not very visible or frequent. Should they choose to leverage their strengths in this area, they could manage to migrate towards the upper
left.
For the second week in a row, Cardinal Health occupies the lower right, the territory of limbo: low favorability and low visibility. As Cardinal, Dow Chemical and ADM address
the relative weakness of their branding and communications, the preferred place is under the radar. These companies should explore why their coverage isn't what it should be,
address the shortfall and work to shift towards the lower left.
| Branding and Communications - Dates: April 2004 - June 2005 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Favorability | ||
| Visibility |
High Favorability/High Visibility
|
Low Favorability/High Visibility
|
|
High Favorability/Low Visibility
|
Low Favorability/Low Visibility
|
|
|
Source: Delahaye |
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Since its inception in 2000, The Delahaye Index has analyzed more than 2 million news items featuring America's 100 largest companies, originating in America's opinion-leading
print and broadcast news outlets. Each company's score is based on how many positive and negative reputation-driving attributes are found within each story. These attributes are
classified into five dimensions: financial management, products and services, organizational integrity and organizational strength. Learn more at http://www.delahaye.com.